Just Wasn't Like That Anymore
by Arciam
Summary: Set three years after the series. Actually a pretty cute story, even if it's a little sad as well. The actual story is better than the prologue, so please read on. -Complete-
1. Prologue

Just wasn't like that anymore... - Prologue

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Life wasn't the same.

About three years after their most adventurous of summers, Phineas and Ferb found that pretty much everything had changed.

It had started with minor fights. Their parents would often start to quarrel about unimportant things, but it grew louder and  
harsher quickly and was soon impossible to ignore. It wasn't long before yelling and swearing could be heard all around the house every day.

That time, Candace started spending most of her time at Stacy's or Jeremy's place to escape the noise, and for the same purpose, the  
stepbrothers often locked themselves in their room and pursued their projects there, albeit not as big in size.

It all worked somehow.

But one month before start of summer vacation, Lawrence got himself kicked out of the house and decided to take his son with him to a  
hotel on the other side of Danville.

Now, Phineas was only able to see his best friend in school, but even _that_ worked somehow.

The month passed by and when vacations arrived, Ferb came to visit the Flynns every other day.  
Sometimes, his father would come along too, but that mostly resulted in another afternoon of yelling and noise. Divorce was mentioned more than once.

=#=#=

End Prologue

Please read the actual story too.


	2. Just wasn't like that anymore

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Two weeks into holidays, on a sunny forenoon, the boys overheard Phineas' mother talking to Lawrence on the phone, very civilly, and agreeing that he would come over later on.

When he came, there were no fights, no swearing. The parents sat down at the table and talked to each other calmly; Phineas and Ferb could see it from their place in the backyard.

After playing together for a while, the stepbrothers settled down at the base of the tree like they used to.

"Perhaps they'll work it out, you know." Phineas smiled contentedly.

Ferb just looked at him, doubt written on his face. The redhead didn't see that, however, and closed his eyes. "It could all be the way it used to.."

=#=#=

In the evening, Ferb's father was still there.

Linda called the boys and Candace in for dinner. They all ate together in peace, the air tensionless in a way none of them had felt it in a long time.

Somewhere half through dinner, Phineas' mother spoke up.

"Dear children, Lawrence and I have something to tell you. We're sorry that the past few months have been so hard, but it should get better from now on."

Phineas was excited and totally prepared to hear her tell them that they had solved their conflicts and that Ferb and his father were moving back in immediately.  
What really came out though, he hadn't expected at all.

"We're getting divorced."

Dead silence.

"..huh?" Phineas eventually croaked out, heart-broken.

"Furthermore," Ferb's father went on "your mother and I have come to an even more important decision yet. Ferb and I, we're moving back to England."

"What!" Candace shrieked and stood up while the boys simply looked horror-stricken.

"What? When?!" Phineas breathed, his face devoid of all its colour.

"Two days in the evening. Packing's tomorrow." Lawrence answered cheerfully as though not realising what this actually meant for the children.

"Two_ days_?! Are you _nuts_?!" Candace shrieked again.

"Please calm down, dear." Linda said.

Phineas turned around to face his stepbrother, his eyes already filling with tears.

"Why didn't you tell me..?!"

Ferb opened his mouth to answer, totally shocked himself, but his father interrupted him.

"Ferb didn't know it either. We wanted to surprise you all."

"How can you do this to us?!" Phineas asked his parents, his voice now on yelling-level.

"Phineas, dear, I know this is going to be quite a change, but it's only for your own goods." his mother answered calmly.

"What _good_ could it do to us to have Ferb taken away from us?!" Candace demanded exasperatedly.

"Alright, no more discussion about this topic, understand?" Linda commanded "You two go to bed now, it's late. I'll see Lawrence and Ferb to the door."

Candace gave a frustrated sigh and stormed off towards her room. Phineas got up more reluctantly and, after exchanging a last downhearted look with his stepbrother,  
ascended the stairs dejectedly. He could hear his mother talking to Ferb's father at the doorstep.

"So, we'll be at the airport to say goodbye at any rate. I just hope those two will have calmed down by then." she added a bit annoyedly.

"Don't worry, they'll get over it, I'm sure of it."

"Well at least Ferb seems to take it quite well."

That was what did it for Phineas. Crying, he fled to his room.

He didn't know how deeply hurt Ferb was as well, even though he tried his best not to let it show.

=#=#=

Midnight found Phineas sitting on the edge of his bed in his fully lit room.

He couldn't fall asleep.

He didn't really try to, either.

He was waiting for something, although he didn't quite know for what. Until he noticed the quietness everywhere, also outside.

Still in his pyjamas, he put on his shoes and snuck out of his room.

When he was sure his mother and sister were asleep, he went back, switched out the lights and climbed out his window.

Once on the street, he began to run.

He had to see Ferb.

=#=#=

Ferb lay awake, staring at the ceiling of the dark single room he shared with his father.

In less than two days, he would have to say goodbye to the one person that meant the world to him. The one he had literally spent day and night with ever since he was four.

He couldn't deal with that. Since he had gone to bed, he had tried to come up with some way he would be able to cope, but it seemed his genius mind failed him this time.

What would he say? When farewell came around, what would he do? For once in his life, he was at a total loss for answers.

Suddenly, he heard a tapping on the window and startled a little, sitting up in his bed. When he turned his eyes to the source of the sound, however, he was even more surprised.

"Phineas..?" Ferb whispered to himself.

His father snorted at the sudden noise. Ferb held his breath and whipped his head around to see if he had woken up, but fortunately, Lawrence was a sound sleeper.

Still keeping an eye on the sleeping figure that laid on the other side of the room, Ferb tiptoed to the window and opened it.

"Come down." Phineas whispered and without further commentary, Ferb climbed through the window and followed Phineas down.

When they had walked a few metres and were standing on the lawn next to the hotel, the redhead finally stopped and turned around to face Ferb.

Said just stared back inquiringly.

Without a word, Phineas threw himself at his stepbrother and began to cry.

Taken aback to say the least, Ferb could only stand still at first, before tentatively putting his arms around Phineas.

"I'm scared, Ferb..! I don't want to lose you..!" he finally said, then pulled back a little to look at Ferb through teary eyes.

"I.. I really need you, Ferb." he half whispered before pressing his head against the other's chest again and starting to sob heavily.

Ferb could feel the wetness of his stepbrother's tears seeping through his shirt and could do nothing but stare, totally lost, at the shaking bundle in his arms.

When he couldn't take it any longer, though, he made a decision and his expression became a very determined one.  
He took Phineas by the shoulders and pushed him back gently so he could look into his eyes.

"Alright, I'll tell you what. We'll run away! We're going back to our house now and we'll grab some things, I mean, we don't need that much anyway, and then we're off.  
We'll leave them a note saying we're okay, but they won't seperate us!"

Phineas just stared for a while "You mean it?"

"Of course I do. I'm scared too, you know, and I don't want to lose you either, Phineas."

Phineas chuckled although he was still crying a little "I don't think I've ever heard you say this much at once, Ferb."

"Well, I don't think I've ever seen you this sad, either." Ferb replied more seriously. "The past few weeks, I've done nothing but thinking about some solution for this whole situation,  
but apparantly.. this is the only way."

"But, where will we go? About everyone in the whole Tri-State Area knows who we are."

Now it was Ferb's time to chuckle "Phineas.. Since when are you thinking so small? Life beyond Tri-State Area _exists_."

"Well it's been a little hard for me to be creative these days..." Phineas looked at the ground.

Ferb sighed sympathetically and took his stepbrother into his arms again. "We'll be alright now.. You'll see.."

=#=#=

When they finally arrived at the Flynns' house, it was hardly past one o' clock in the morning. Despite the several lamps lighting the streets of Danville, one could hardly see his hand  
in front of his face in the deep dark night.

More than once, the stepbrothers tripped over or bumped against something.

"And you say you _ran_ all the way to the hotel?" Ferb asked as he once again hit his foot "I'm surprised you found the way at all in this darkness, let alone _running_..!"

"Believe me, I'm surprised myself." Phineas answered, bumping his shoulder against a pole.

They entered the backyard of the house and climbed the wall up to Phineas' still open window.

Once they were in, they switched on the light and Ferb took a look around.

"How I miss this room.."

"Well, guess we'll both miss it then." Phineas replied.

"Right. So let's pack."

They searched around the room, scrambling about, trying to find the most important things.

Soon, they were finished packing two backpacks and a small suitcase.

"Do we have money?" Ferb asked.

"I still have the money we earned with our last project. But it's downstairs."

"Okay, you go get it and I'll write the note in the meantime. Be careful."

With that, Ferb grabbed paper and pencil and Phineas crept down the stairs ever-so-slowly as not to make any sound.

When he passed the kitchen, however, he heard something growl behind him.

He whipped around, fearing to have been caught, only to release a sigh of relieve few moments later.

"There you are, Perry." Phineas whispered.

The platypus looked at him with his unfocused gaze, standing on the kitchen table.

"Ferb and I are running away, do you want to come with us?"

Perry only snorted in response and hopped down from the table to stand beside Phineas' feet, signalling that he indeed wanted to.

"Great!" the redhead whispered and went off to get the money, Perry following his step.

=#=#=

Meanwhile, Ferb was finished writing the note and now sat, staring at their baggage and thinking.

He couldn't believe this was really happening. Most of all though, he couldn't believe that this was really necessary. That this was the only possible way.

He really wished it didn't have to be like that. He would much rather just have lived on merrily with Phineas and their family happy and together, with their friends, and with their time  
spent focusing all their attention on the inventions and one another. The way it had used to be.

But life just wasn't like that anymore, and among the few choices he now had, running away with Phineas and thus leaving behind parents, sister, friends and life the way they knew it  
as a whole still seemed like the most appealing one.

His train of thought was stopped, however, when Phineas returned with hands and pockets full of money and a platypus by his feet.

The boy smiled sheepishy at Ferb's wide-eyed stare "Guess we had more than I remembered.."

"You can say that again.." Ferb replied, still stunned, eliciting a chuckle from Phineas.

"So, all done with the note?"

"Yes.." Ferb looked to the piece of paper put on top of his stepbrother's pillow.

Both fell silent as they stared at it, the one symbol of their departure.

Melancholy and regret stood tangible in the air.

Regret that life would never be the same.

"Well then.. ready to go?" Phineas eventually asked, breaking the spell.

"Yes." Ferb stood up and picked up his backpack and the suitcase. Phineas did the same with his backpack and Perry, and together, they switched out the light,  
climbed out of the window and down the wall again.

Small, silent tears rolled down both their faces as they stood before their once-home, taking one last look.

Neither of them commented the tears.

Neither of them came up with a witty line to wrap up the situation.

Neither of them said a word as they grabbed each others' hands for comfort and walked away into the night air.

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Well, I never said it had a point, just that it was kind of cute ^^'' Wouldn't win a contest either way ^^

I really don't know why I even wrote this fanfiction, though. It might have something to do with my family and me wishing it could be the way it used to be, but I can also just  
have been very tired ^^ you never know ^^


End file.
